The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-01-20
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP.
THE PECULIAR USE THEY MAKE OF
THEIR BIG HORNS.

They Curl Themselves Up Into Balls
and Roll Over Lofty Precipices - A
FrightfuI Leap.
OF al the game animals in the north
west, ana particularly Montana, the Big
Horn or Rocky mountain sheep furnishes
the most sport to runtsmen. Chasing the
buffalo across the pisaiins on horseback and
killing them with a revolver; which was
at one time the favOrite method q hunt
ing the big bison, used to be the ne plus
ultra of NimrOdic amusenents in Moff-
tana, but since the buffalo have disap-
peared hunters have drifted back into the
mountains, where the "Ovis Montana
are TO be found during late years in great
abundance. There must be lots of fun
sctmpering over the prairie after a 100
pound bull, but there is the heat and VIC
lent exercise, not to speak of the danger
81 your horse plunging into prairie-dOg
hu!eaud sending you downward to grass at
IN angle OF Is to 20 degrees. ThemOuntain
sheep is always found among the peaks
md cliffs in cool altitude and pretty near
the timber or perpetual SHOWN line. The
Big Horn sheep Of the Rocky mountains
is "a most difficult animal to bag They
Arc usually found in pairs, often in f1ocks
of from four to forty, and sometimes in
bands Of a hundred or more. One old
Sheep-hunter, living on Prior's fork, near
here relates that he saw not long ago q
flock of eighty-One sheep in the Bitter
Root range, and about five years ago,
while scouting through tho Teton basin,
in northern Wyoming, near the southern
boundary of the Yellowstone National
n4Pi< no a hand that OnIIgf have
numbered over 300
EXCEEDIEGLY SCARCE.
These animals range all the way from
Rio Grande to the Mackenzie, but at the
limits named they are exceedingly scarce
and most difficult to kill. Their natural
home is among the mountains of the up
per Yellowstone and Missouri rivers
Some few are found in Washington terri
tory, Oregon, and California but the CEN
ter around which they revolve is the
Yellowstone National park and the Dor
bordering counties of Montana, Idaho,
and Wyoming. Particularly are they
plentiful i'll the mountains from which
they take their name-viZ, the Big Horn.
Very little is known of the habits of this
rare game animal, even by those who
have written on this subject. They range
winter and summer alike in the
same ATTITUDES and attitudes, only in
summer they wander farther away than
in the opposite season. During the cold
months they stay on the southern slopes
OF the mountains SO as to catch the sun.
III the summer they are generally found
on the higher benches, where the bunch
grass and mountain clover are abundant
Among the peaks where they habituate
one of the first things to appear in the
spring is the wild onion or leek, which is
L. I
them This wild plant imparts to the
flesh delightful flavor, and makes the
meat of the Big Horn the most delicious
in the mountains. Their great est enemy
is the mountain lion. In fact, the prin-
cipal diet of the mountain lion is the
tender offspring OF the "Ovis Montana"
w Lcn lambs are not to be had, the fierce
\ crt1 American panther does not object
80 sting on the parents. These rare
sheep are also subject to a sort of scab
disease, which, when it becomes cpl
dem :, sweeps off at short notice scores of
The young and old alike. The lambs
are rOught forth from the 9Th to the Goth
Of ".
The "Ovis Montana" is adorned with the
most remarkable headgear imaginable in
5he shape of monstrous horns. These are
used by them for various purposes, but
principally as means of defense. Aston
shing as it may seem, they also use their
horns to assist them in descend
ng from one lofty eminence to a lower.
If in skipping from crag to crag AID from
.idge to ridge it should become necessary
o make a jump downward, no matter
What the height, they roll themselves up !
nto kind of ball, vault out into the air, /
md, turning a succession of somersaults,
leep the ball rolling, so to speak, until
haV strike on their TOWprfUl horns no.
oW.
VERY HARD TO KILL.
The shock would kill an ordinary ami
nal, but these hardy denizens of the
Mountains cont seem to mind it much,
or they spring TO their feet and go bound
ng over impossible chasms and jagged
Ocks Until i becomes necessary to make
mother descent, when the same tactics
re repeated.
w. b. Dow. of the Green Mountain Cat
lie company, elates that he saw near his
ench on Pc - river. not long ago, a
ard of So ain sheep They were
rowsing ont on. cliff. When for some
mcconnell reason the flock became
and rushed away like the
'hirlwiud. On they came pell nell to
ne edSe OF The elf. which was cut sharp
ito q perpendicular decline of fully 500
.et. The leaders paused, but there was
q help for it. The rear guard crowded
leaI Over ar' the entire flock went neck
YER heels '...l into space. 1T was no
-3ibt "a .aE sight tC see 300 mountain
ieeI '.ua.af 10 into balls and falling
-er . tty prsc pice Down they
la .. aueJa +, until the whole
4as -i4 aw I'll jump. As this
- l1Ul APP for any breath
2 make and live, it is not
II "a It thirteen out of
e we've I'D "- ne conclusion. The
), grr secured the meat,
q II superior to their
some u the InoUIuvain-sheep horns at
i'm a remarkable size. One pair brought
To his fort last February by Cheyenne
dian ,iced seventeen inches in cir
.lIerence, although only forty inches in
myth. The ram from which they were
ken was q splendid specimen, weighing
er 20O pounds, and stood, when erect,
AIRY up to q mans shoulders-Fort
eoe;h Cor. Philadelphia Times.
LIln't Ask Too Much OF the Memory.
\ always carry good deal of my bus
ss5 ia my head. and avoid the use of